Use Your Imagination
by Revan's Pet Duck
Summary: What happens when your friends lock you in a closet with the guy you despise the most? Use Your Imagination! Lily hates James but her friends don't think so and so the two are in for a night of flirting and fighting. [Fluffy LJ fic] COMPLETE!
1. That Stupid Potter

**Use Your Imagination**

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters are not mine. They belong to Jo Rowling. Yep. It's all Jo's._

**Chapter One**

"Evans!" a voice shouted from across the hallway.

Fifteen-year-old Lily Evans groaned and kept on walking, faster even. She was in a bad mood and didn't want to deal with James Potter right now.

James Potter had been bugging Lily since their first day of Hogwarts. Let's just say that he didn't make a good first impression. He was carrying a potion of some sort, and ended up spilling it on Lily, making her hair poof up like an afro and change to a shocking pink color. It stayed that way during the Welcome Feast. Lily had never forgiven him.

Not that he ever asked for forgiveness. Instead, the first two years of Hogwarts, James just annoyed Lily to no end, calling her names, poking her, but he avoided pulling any pranks on her.

During their next three years, James had simply continuously asked Lily out, getting a no every time. Lily knew he was just going to embarrass her and that was the only reason he'd ask her out. It was because she's the only witch who'd have said no.

James was a rather handsome guy. His messy jet-black hair and his soft hazel eyes. He was thin and lean, but being on the Quidditch team handed him plenty of popularity, Especially since he had friends who were pretty popular as well.

Not that Lily wasn't well-liked, she just wasn't Miss Popularity. She didn't like the air of popularity. She was a smart witch, well known as the smartest in the class.

"Evans! Don't you want to hear what I have to say today?" James called again. Lily began walking faster now.

"I don't care Potter, I have a class to get to, one you're not in thank god!" she shouted back as she continued walking, now going up a staircase on her way to Arithmancy, her next class.

"I was just going to ask you out again! You won't be able to resist me much longer!" He had stopped walking at the foot of the stairs. Lily didn't even look at him as she kept walking.

"I'm not resisting, I just don't like you!" she yelled down.

"Stop lying to yourself, you know you find me irresistible!" James shouted with a smug smile.

Lily finally stopped walking at the top of the stairs and glared down at James. "Potter, I do not like you. Get it through your thick skull. I would date any other guy on the planet before I dated you. Even Severus Snape!"

"Ouch, you really hurt me Lils," James feigned being hurt.

"IT'S LILY NOT LILS!" she screamed down at him before running up the next staircase.

James laughed to himself as she walked away and he started towards his own next class, Care of Magical Creatures. "She knows she likes me."

XxXxX

Lily practically threw her books down in frustration as she sat down next to her best friend, Melody Bones. Melody and Lily hadn't gotten along in their first year of Hogwarts, probably because Lily was a bit of a loner and Melody was a people person. They were both smart though and very competitive.

Somehow though, while serving detention together near the start of their second year, they had begun shouting at each other, only to realize that they had a lot in common. They had somehow become friends.

Melody was always surrounded by friends, but she always made room for Lily. Lily got along with Melody's friends, but she wasn't much for big groups of people.

"James again?" Melody quirked her eyebrow as the bell rang. Lily groaned. "I'll take that as a yes."

"OWLs are coming up in two weeks yet, no he can't study, he has to irk me!" Lily murmured as the professor began the lesson. Melody shook her head, smiling to herself. Lily growled. Melody always assumed that Lily liked James. In fact, she had one accidentally spread a rumor that the two were going out in third year because she had seen them getting a drink in Hogsmeade together.

It turned out James had bought Lily a butterbeer which she accepted sweetly before dumping it all over his head. He had left a live frog in her backpack the week before.

Once the lesson was over, more review for the OWLs, Melody and Lily exited the classroom, gripping their books tightly as they walked around the school to get back to their dormitory to drop off their books before dinner.

"He just kept yelling after me the entire time I was walking to class," Lily complained. Melody watched her friend burst out in anger as she did daily whenever James Potter was involved. Her fiery and fierce personality matched her red hair, and her green eyes blazed whenever she mentioned James. In contrast to Melody's deep sunkissed skin, Lily's was milky. Melody had bright blue eyes and deep chestnut hair. Both were on the short side, but not by an extreme amount. And both were beautiful in the eyes of all the guys at Hogwarts.

Melody went through a phase in her fourth year where she dated a good deal of the guys at Hogwarts, including James for about a week. She often vouched to Lily about how bad a boyfriend he was, flaking off half the time and ignoring her.

One other thing Melody often pointed out was how much James had asked about Lily back when the two had been going out. Melody could tell that one day, if James ever grew up, he and Lily would fit together perfectly.

However, at the moment, this was the thought furthest from both girls minds. Lily's was on a one track rant about James and Melody was rolling her eyes about Lily's one track rant about James.

"How about you don't let him get under your skin so much?" Melody finally exclaimed. "I mean, I understand how much he ticks you off, but can you just try and forget him and focus on something more important? Like the OWLs?"

Lily growled. She had been in one of her better rants. "Fine," she muttered.

At dinner, Lily tried to take Melody's advice. She tried to ignore James three seats and across from her at the Gryffindor table talking about how madly Lily was in love with him. He and his best friend Sirius Black were having a world of fun pretending to be Melody and Lily, gossiping about themselves.

"If you love yourselves so much, why don't you guys just marry each other?" a Hufflepuff fifth year, a friend of Melody and Lily's, Mitch Macmillan called over. Mitch may not have been in the same house as Melody and Lily, but he was one of the guys Melody had gone out with in fourth year, and they had remained good friends. Through that, Lily was drawn into being his friend.

"Aw… defending wittle Melody?" Sirius mocked crying. "Do you wuv her?"

Melody rolled her eyes at Sirius as Mitch rolled his own. Lily seemed ready to stab James and Sirius with her fork as she stabbed her own dinner. "I wish I could use those unforgivable curses on those prats," she hissed at Melody.

"Who wouldn't?" Melody narrowed her eyes at Sirius who just batted his eyelashes innocently.

James and Sirius whispered to each other for a moment before James stood up.

"Not. Again." Lily groaned. He did this at least once a month, standing up and making a fool of himself while making a fool of Lily. Everybody seemed to like James, even Mitch and Melody didn't hate him, except for a few Slytherins perhaps and this one Ravenclaw seventh year James had really ticked off once. So whenever he stood up and proclaimed his love for Lily and how she loved him back, they would all laugh.

Everybody knew how much Lily hated him.

"I LOVE YOU LILY!" James yelled, lifting his wand and with a quick incantation making lilies appear. He threw them at Lily. Then the lilies burst into flames, then ashes, and disappeared entirely.

"POTTER!" Lily screamed, standing up from her seat. James' smile faltered as he saw how outraged Lily looked.

"Gotta run!" he exclaimed, getting up and out of the Great Hall as quickly as possible, Lily fast on his tail. She chased him into the entrance hall and outside Hogwarts where she tripped running down the stairs.

James turned around and ran back to her where she lied on the grass. "You know I love you right?" Lily growled. She had had enough. She was going to lay it down once and for all.

"LEAVE ME ALONE POTTER!" Lily yelled in his face. He backed off for a second, standing back up, getting his face out of hers. "I do not like you, I never will! You don't love me, you love annoying me to hell! Just leave me the hell alone Potter! What did I ever do to you that you did not deserve in return for doing something to me?"

"I'm sorry?" James tried, backing off even more. Lily stood up.

"You know you're not sorry!" she yelled. "Stop asking me out and stop making my life a living hell! All you do is bug me! You poke me, you tease me, you annoy me, you do everything in your power to infuriate me!"

Lily gave him a last glare and ran back into the castle, into the Gryffindor common room and into her dormitory to beat her pillow up in her anger.

Unfortunately, James didn't listen to her. He didn't bug her for the two weeks until the OWLs, but once the OWLs were over, James asked her out. Again. And after beating up on Snape!

She, of course, had refused. James looked slightly hurt for a millisecond. Probably just his pride. Melody and her friends sitting by the lake where Lily had been cheered her later for doing such a good job of yelling at James.

How Lily wished she could just get away from James and never see him again.

XxXxX

Kinda short, yeah, but I want to make this at least a couple chapters, and the chapters aren't going to be very long. Not like with Destiny where the chapters are at least ten pages usually. Of course, that's a different category, but whatever.

So here it is, Use Your Imagination. This is basically an introduction chapter. The real story begins next chapter where we zoom forward to seventh year, and Lily and James have been fighting… again.

Please review!

7-1-05


	2. Locked in the Closet

_Disclaimer: Again… this is not mine. I'm just having some fun with some of Jo Rowling's characters._

**Chapter Two**

Lily Evans huffed as she collapsed onto her bed in the seventh years dormitory. It had only been two weeks of school and already James had managed to have her want to kill him. Normally she just was angry with him. This time she hated him.

It was enough that he was made Head Boy while she was Head Girl, but today he had pulled a prank on her! He had learned to never pull pranks on her, and yet he did today. The previous year, he and his friends had calmed down a bit, stopped being so arrogant. Lily thought they might've actually grown up.

Boy was she wrong.

Today proved that. In Potions class, James had managed to cast an enchantment on Lily so that every time she would raise her hand to answer a question, she would blurt out an embarrassing secret or truth. The worst part of it all though, was that one thing she had said involved James.

_I really don't hate James, I think he's awfully dreamy. He just gets under my skin. I did have a crush on him though in second year for a month._

Lily had almost died at that moment. She had left class early and thank goodness it was her afternoon class because she wasn't going to leave this dormitory. Never again.

"Lily? Are you up here?"

Melody Bones' voice came floating in as the door opened and the chestnut haired seventeen year old girl walked in and sat down next to Lily who lay on the bed.

"Oh come on Lily… it wasn't that bad," she tried comforting Lily. "You didn't say you loved him or anything or that you fantasized about kissing him."

"That's because I don't," Lily stated. "But he is cute and I did have a crush on him in second year. That damned Potter! I can't wait until the year is over and I never have to see him again! Thank goodness I finally realized what was going on and stopped the enchantment before it went further."

"Further you say?" Melody pried. Lily opened her eyes and gave Melody a look. The redhead was obviously not very prone to revealing more information right now.

"You've got to tell me Lils! I promise I won't tell a soul, not James or even Mitch!" Melody exclaimed. Mitch had asked Melody out at the start of the school year, having had his eye on her since the end of fifth year. Melody had gladly accepted. Lily was happy that hr friends liked each other, but right now she was more concerned with James.

Lily sighed. "You tell anyone and I will murder you," she declared. Melody squealed in delight. She lived for gossip. "I think I actually like James and that's what really bugs me. Why should I like him? He's arrogant, a jerk, a bully…"

"Handsome, charming, popular, sweet and in high demand?" Melody interjected.

Lily gave her another look. "Oh come on! That was the first mean thing I've seen him do since he cast that spell on Snape last year making him walk on his hands all day. I felt kind of bad, but it was a very funny sight. But he's matured! You know he has. And he matured into a right handsome devil."

Melody was grinning. Lily groaned. "I am not going to like Potter if it is the last thing I do!"

_Yeah right,_ Melody thought to herself.

"Everybody will forget," the brown haired girl declared. "I will make sure they do!"

Lily didn't even want to think of what Melody was thinking when she said that. _She better not embarrass me further or ask Potter to hurt Snape again or something. I'll kill her._

XxXxX

"James mate… that was quite the prank!"

Sirius Black was grinning madly at James Potter and the two best friends and their other best friends Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were sitting in the seventh year boys' dormitory.

"I swear I wasn't aiming for Lily!" James exclaimed. "I was aiming for Melody, you know that girl's as smart as Lily but she's such a gossip she'd be spilling secrets left and right."

"She's also Lily's best friend and a big majority of those secrets would be Lily's," Remus pointed out. "What was that enchantment you used anyways? It sounds a lot like the truth potion we were studying at the end of last year in Potions…"

"It doesn't matter, I want to apologize to Lily, I really don't want her to hate me," James muttered.

Peter began laughing. "Next thing you know you'll be saying you actually like her!"

James glared at him hard. "What if I do?" he said quietly. Peter stopped laughing and Sirius' grin fell off his face. They were all staring at James with his messy black hair and his hazel eyes behind round glasses staring at each of them in turn. "So what if I like Lily? Is there something wrong with that? She's smart, she's pretty…"

"…And she's the one girl who would say no to you," Remus concluded. "Are you sure you actually like her and don't like her just because she says no?"

Shaking his head, James thought about that for a moment. "No… I really can't help but like her. It's really annoying really, because I can't seem to ignore her face in my head and her voice playing over and over again. I just want to move past her and forget her because I'll never have her."

Sirius grinned again. "Our little Prongsie is all fallin' in wuv!" he mocked.

James rolled his eyes. "Padfoot, I think you're the one of us four who is going to stay fifteen forever. I mean, even Peter is being more mature than you." Peter drew himself up proudly and Sirius scowled.

"I'm going to bed," James finally declared, taking off his glasses and slipping off his shoes. He crawled into his bed and fell asleep.

Remus stared at his friend for a moment before an idea dawned on him. But he would need help. The help of other people… and not just Sirius and Peter.

He motioned to Sirius and Peter to follow him out of the dormitory and into the common room. The common room was rather empty, though it was eleven at night, with just a single fourth year in the corner reading a book.

"I've got a plan guys…" Remus declared. "It's obvious James likes Lily and if that charm was used correctly, and I think it was because it's weird to lie about being afraid of snakes and even telling a long story about an encounter with a snake, that Lily likes James. Now, as the best friends, we need to play matchmaker."

"Aw! Matchmaker!" Sirius mocked. Remus shot him a look.

"James is right Sirius… you're never going to mature are you?" Peter asked, stifling some laughter. Sirius glared at him before turning back to Remus.

"Best friends you say? But that would mean we need to involve…"

"Yep," Remus smirked. "We need to talk with Lily's best friend of course."

XxXxX

"Lily!"

Lily didn't want to wake up, but Melody's voice seemed urgent.

"What is it Melody? I'm trying to sleep," the redhead grumbled as her best friend pulled her out of her bed and threw her cloak over her. Melody began leading Lily out of the room.

"You can sleep tomorrow, this is important," Melody told the half-asleep teenager she was pushing down the stairs and into the common room, and then out of the common room and into the hallway.

"Where are we going?" Lily asked groggily.

XxXxX

"What are you doing to me?"

Sirius had performed the whole body bind spell on James who was now frozen in his bed.

"He needs to be quiet too," Remus added. Sirius nodded and performed a silencing charm on James. Remus then levitated James' body out of his bed, threw a cloak on James, placed his glasses on his face, and began carrying him through the air and out of the dormitory.

XxXxX

There is a broom closet down the hallway from the portrait into Gryffindor's common room. It wasn't used very often and the caretaker of Hogwarts, Argus Filch, didn't use any of the supplies in there very often.

Earlier that night, Melody and Mitch had gone to clean the closet so that James and Lily could be in there without worrying about spiders crawling all over them. It wasn't a huge closet, but it did have room enough for two people to sit on the ground.

Now, Mitch was standing by the closet, making sure that nobody was coming by to patrol the hallways. It was one in the morning, so the Hufflepuff doubted that anybody would be showing up. Well, except for the people involved in the plan.

Soon enough, Melody arrived, pushing along a half asleep Lily. Lily was wearing blue pajama bottoms and a tight white tank top, the clothes she normally slept in along with a large black cloak Melody had thrown onto her friend before making her leave the dormitory.

"Does she have her wand?" Mitch asked Melody as she ushered Lily into the broom closet.

"Nope, it's back in the dorm," Melody smirked. Mitch smiled as he closed the door and leaned against it. He kissed Melody lightly on the lips.

"This is quite a plan, who cooked it up?" he asked his girlfriend.

"Remus and I both had the same idea and we were both looking for each other because we both needed each other to concoct this plan," Melody explained. "So we ran into each other in the common room and decided on this. Then I went to fetch you because you are Lily's friend too and we needed someone to guard the closet.

"Am I a good guard?" Mitch asked teasingly.

"A very good guard," Melody leaned in to kiss him again.

"Oh the berry best guard!" a high-pitched voice said. Mitch and melody both turned around to see Sirius mocking them.

"Honestly Black, grow up!" Melody exclaimed, smiling nonetheless. Behind Sirius was Remus who was levitating James' frozen body and Peter who was trailing behind them, grinning in the excitement.

"Victim number one is present, victim number two is being thrown in now," Remus declared as Mitch opened the door and he dropped James in next to a sleeping Lily. He undid the spells on James and zapped Lily lightly with his wand to wake her up before closing the door.

Quickly, Melody locked the door with her hand. "He doesn't have his wand does he?" she asked Remus. The latter shook his head.

"What's going on!" James shouted.

"Quiet James!" Melody hissed. "Do you want Filch to find you and Lily locked in a closet together?" She could imagine James' eyes bugging out of his head as he saw Lily next to him.

"What am I doing in a closet with Potter?" Lily called from inside the closet. Mitch, Melody, Sirius, Remus and Peter all shushed her.

"It is now one am," Melody announced. "You two have seven hours to get together or at least get along. We all know you two like each other."

"I hate you Melody," Lily murmured.

"You'll thank me later," her 'best friend' replied. "We'll all be back at eight for breakfast and to let you guys out. If you just sleep, we will lock you in there again another time. We will do this as many times as it takes, but hopefully it will only take one. Have fun kids!"

"But not too much fun," Sirius said suggestively. Both Lily and James blushed in the darkness of the closet.

"By the way, there are some muggle matches and a candle in there if you want some light," Mitch told the two. "It's on the right side… well the right if you're outside the closet facing the door. About five and a half or six feet up the wall."

The sound of footsteps walking away pounded into Lily's head as the situation dawned on her.

She was locked in a closet. For seven hours. With James Potter.

Oh her imagination ran wild, especially with the murder plots she had begun concocting for Melody and Mitch. James was thinking along the same lines, killing Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"Well, let's get some light," Lily finally declared. She stood up and tried to reach the candle. She was almost five and a half feet tall, so her hand barely grazed the candle that was about six feet up in the closet. The matches fell to the floor.

"Need someone taller?" James asked.

"I don't need you for anything," Lily retorted. She leaned down and felt around on the floor for the matches. She finally pulled one out and lit it. The light illuminated her face and James'

Despite the small bags under his eyes, James looks rather handsome as usual. He had a small stubble, and then she realized that his chest was bare, revealing a rather well built body, though lean and thin. _All that Quidditch probably_, Lily thought to herself.

"Ouch," she muttered as her hand was burnt by the match. She lit a second one and began trying to reach the candle again. From behind her, James took the match from her hand and lit the candle herself.

Lily scowled at him as she turned around. This was going to be a long night.

XxXxX

A couple pages longer this time. And the plan is set and in motion. What shall happen next with Lily and James in the broom closet? We shall see in chapter three! Hey that rhymed!

7-4-05


	3. Getting to Know You

_Disclaimer: Again, these characters are not mine and I take no credit for them. Ha!_

**Chapter Three**

_**1:46 am**_

Lily groaned as she rolled over. She was lying flat on her back in the closet. She sarcastically thanked whoever had the bright idea to leave them in the most freezing cold closet in Hogwarts. She shivered and stole a glance at James.

He was leaning against a wall, his eyes closed, but she knew he was awake by the way his hand lifted itself now and then to rummage through his wild black hair. Lily groaned again as she pulled her cloak tighter around her, still freezing cold in her pajamas. She missed her bed, all cozy and warm. Heck, she missed any bed!

She had a hard time hating James right now. His cloak was lying on her shoulders, but his bare chest was still revealed, moving up and down rhythmically with his breathing.

"We're supposed to be trying to get along you know Lil," James pointed out, his eyes still closed as she turned away from him and scuffled to sit up, shivering again.

"I don't care Potter, you know I don't like you and my friends must be crazy to think I do," the redhead huffed, hugging her shoulders tightly.

James quirked an eyebrow at her as he took his head off the wall it was leaning on. "I'm sorry about hitting you with that charm. I was aiming for Melody, you know, the gossip queen of Hogwarts? Of course, she might've revealed the same secret about your true feelings towards me."

Lily glared at him as he said the last statement rather cockily. "You sound so sure that it was true. Maybe I was faking the whole thing. You have no proof you did it wrong and I was just lying."

"I'd like to think I know you rather well after being rejected and hated by you for six years," James declared, grinning at Lily's deepening scowl.

"If you knew me so well, you'd back off," she hissed, avoiding his gaze. _God he's handsome…_

It was quiet again.

_**2:12 am**_

"Are you cold?" James asked as Lily shivered again. _How the hell did it get so cold on the seventh floor of Hogwarts?_ Lily didn't answer him for a few moments. James decided that she was in fact cold and moved across the closet to where she was and stretched out his cloak to go around her shoulders as well.

Lily shrugged it off and turned her pale face away from him. "Despite how cold I am I would never want you close to me James."

"I have a first name?" James asked with sarcastic surprise. "You've rarely if ever called me James before. I thought it might not have been my name anymore!" Lily turned her head towards him and glared at him. She jerked her head to the other side but James caught it with his hand.

"Why can't you just give me a chance Lily?" he asked quietly, with such a change in his demeanor than Lily was used to that she looked at him differently for a split second.

_Because I don't want my heart broken._ Lily lifted her own hand and shoved James' out of her way and turned her head the other way.

_**2:30 am**_

"What were Melody and Mitch thinking?" Lily said aloud after a while. James had sifted a couple inches away from her to give her room and now they were leaning against opposite sides of the closet, neither looking at one another, but instead at the ceiling.

"The same thing everybody else in this school thinks," James pointed out, his voice now with a bit of an icy edge to it. "That we like each other."

Lily sighed. "Why have you been bugging me ever since our first year?" she finally asked.

"Because I liked you Lily," James said simply without a bit of emotion revealed in his words. "I liked you ever since I saw you. I have no clue why, maybe it's because you're beautiful and smart and witty and you never say yes."

"So you just want me because you can't have me," Lily decided, with just a hint of the crestfallen feeling she was experiencing at that thought.

"Nope, that's not it," James shook his head and his head fell forward at the same time Lily's did. He caught her eye and smiled. "I want you because I really like you Lily, despite the fact that you always seemed to not like me."

Lily blushed just a bit and turned her head back up to the ceiling, smiling just a little bit, and shivering again, but this time she knew it wasn't because of the cold.

_**2:41 am**_

"So you want me to give you a chance?" Lily blurted out, looking at James' surprised look. He sat up a bit eagerly and gave her a small smile. Lily rolled her eyes.

"I don't think I know you well enough to give you a fair chance though James," the redhead pointed out. She shivered again. The cold was really getting to her and her cloak wasn't enough warmth.

"Maybe we could just ask each other questions so that we get to know each other better," James shrugged as he moved closer to Lily with his cloak. This time, she didn't reject him as he draped his cloak around the both of them.

"Okay… do you have any siblings?" Lily asked him.

James shook his head. "I'm an only child. My parents usually shine the spotlight on me because of this. My dad, he works in the Ministry of Magic and my mum works at a shop in Diagon Alley selling jewelry." He turned his head towards Lily. They were awfully close and she had a hard time pretending she didn't like it. "You have any siblings?"

"One sister named Petunia," Lily answered. She had a hollow smile on her face. "She's a muggle you know, and she absolutely despises me because I'm a witch. My parents say she'll come around, but she moved out three years ago when she graduated school and she just got married to this guy Vernon. I didn't like him very much, very plain and boring, but Petunia seems to like that kind of thing."

"Sorry about your sister Lils," James shrugged his shoulders a bit. "She doesn't sound very pleasant."

"We haven't gotten along since I got my Hogwarts letter, but it's okay, I have Melody and Mitch and my parents are rather proud of me being a witch," Lily's hollow smile turned into a genuine one, remembering when Melody had come over to her house once.

Petunia had hated Melody from the moment she had seen the pureblooded witch in her purple robes and wand in hand. Petunia had begun shrieking about freaks in the house. Melody and Lily had come up with multiple plans on how to torture her, including leaving a voodoo doll on her bed. They had never gone through with anything though.

Lily snapped back to reality when she realized that the knee her hand had rested on was moving and it wasn't hers. She blushed crimson and mumbled an apology as she pulled her hand back onto her own knee, moving it a bit just to make sure.

_**3:21 am**_

"And then Snape pulled out his wand right there in the middle of Diagon Alley and muttered some curse. Peter was so close to being nicked by it, thank goodness Sirius bumped into ol' Snivellus before he could get the curse off."

Lily watched James as he recounted the story of why James had constantly been going after Snape since third year. Apparently Snap had met James, Sirius, Remus and Peter in Diagon Alley just before third year and had gotten into a heated argument followed by a curse being aimed.

"He was sent a warning from the Ministry of Magic since apparently it was only the first time he'd done magic outside of school, but his dad came up and grabbed him by the ear, cursing Snape as he pulled him out Diagon Alley. I swear, I almost felt bad for the git. His dad didn't seem like a pleasant guy."

Lily shrugged against James' shoulder. "I always thought you were just interested in being a bully."

"Come on Lily, I may not be the nicest guy in this school, but I don't pick on people in particular without a reason, and it was all in fun then. I see we were a bit obnoxious and quite some jerks, which is why as you saw last year, we tried to quit it," James pointed out.

Lily yawned and nodded her head. It drooped against James' shoulder in her tiredness. "How late is it?" James reached into the pocket of his cloak and came out with a watch.

"3:23 in the morning," the black-haired boy declared with a yawn himself.

"They're mad, depriving us of sleep like this," Lily said, a bit too tired to even try and move her head off of James' shoulder. It was rather comfortable anyways…

"How did you and Melody end up getting along anyways? One day you two hated each other's guts and the next you were best friends," James asked curiously. "The whole school was rather shocked. Everyone expected you two to end up as bitter of rivals as Malfoy and Weasley when they graduated just after we started Hogwarts."

"Well… remember when we were forced to work together in Potions in second year and ended up spiking Professor Smith's hair and then she gave us detention?" James nodded, smirking.

"So in detention we kept blaming each other when we were cleaning the dungeons without magic and began throwing our sponges at each other and calling each other names. When she called me a suck up I told her she was one too. She started laughing all of a sudden and I did too. We were both soaking wet with dirty and soapy water and just kept laughing. On our way back to the dorm we both kind of apologized for jumping down each other's throats since the Hogwarts Express in first year and we became friends."

James was chuckling lightly. Lily felt awfully comfortable with his chest heaving up and down as he laughed and her leaning next to him. "That's an interesting start to a friendship."

"Like you're one to talk with when you tried to prank Remus in first year with Sirius' help but he figured out your plan and it backfired and you and Sirius ended up beginning him for mercy as he held that dungbomb over your head in the common room. An interesting way to make friends don't you think?"

_**3:47 am**_

They had been talking for around an hour about everything from their families to their friends to their favorite classes and Lily even talked about some of her favorite Muggle music that greatly interested James' wizarding upbringing.

But silence fell as their minds were both overcome with their tiredness. Lily was basically completely leaning on James by this point and she didn't object as his warm hand rubbed her cold arm.

"How can you be so warm when we're stuck in this freezing closet?" Lily asked him as she leaned her head against the wall to be able to face James.

He gave her his famous smile but Lily had observed him flirting with every girl in the school before. His eyes usually revealed what he was really thinking. Occasionally his eyes twinkled with delight, especially when he tortured her for the past six years, and sometimes his eyes showed interest or lust towards whoever he was flirting with. Sometimes even, his eyes betrayed that he hated what he was doing.

But this time his hazel eyes looked at Lily differently. Smiling he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "I guess I'm just naturally warm," he shrugged.

Lily couldn't lie to herself and say that his arm wasn't comforting. She even didn't push it away this time. James noticed this and his smile widened.

Lily's green eyes looked him in the eye. She stopped lying to herself. Mitch and Melody had been geniuses to do this, Sirius, Remus and Peter too. Because she did like James, as much as she said she didn't. And by the look in his eyes, she could tell James liked her too.

XxXxX

What happens next? MUAHA! We will see more in chapter four. More rhyming! W00t! XD This'll be around five chapters in its completed length, so we're more than halfway done! Gasp! Anyways, I have to say thanks to everybody who reviewed. I'm glad you guys like this so much. I love writing fluff like this. And I love writing James and Lily. Thanks so much for the reviews! They make me smile. :)

7-8-05


	4. James Redeemed

_Disclaimer: Yet again, I am just having some fun with Jo Rowling's characters. This is non profit. Back off lawyers! XD_

**Chapter Four**

_**4:00am**_

"I'm sorry Lil," James blurted out after a few moments.

Lily had been comfortably leaning against James, half asleep, for the past ten minutes while silence reigned in the damp, drafty closet. Lily had been awfully comfortable against James' shoulder.

The redhead picked her sleepy head up and blinked herself awake and watched James as he ran one of his hands through his messy jet-black hair.

"You do know I hate it when you do that? You just do it to look like you've hopped off a broomstick, and all the other girls love it," Lily told him, but not in a snarling way as she usually would've. She was slightly gentler this time.

"Then I'll make sure to never do it again," James said with a wink. "But honestly Lily, I'm sorry if I've been a hassle since you met me."

"Well not the instant I met you," Lily smirked at him, with a finger on her chin contemplatively. "You were okay for the first five minutes." James gave her a dead smile. "And you haven't been horrific tonight. I've seen you worse."

"But?" James asked, knowing there had to be a 'but'.

"James, if I tell you what I'm thinking, I will murder you slowly and painfully if you tell anyone what I'm going to tell you okay?" Lily said sternly.

James wasn't used to Lily being so serious towards him. She was either angry or furious. The look in her green eyes made him nod his head in agreement. "I won't tell anybody what you're thinking. I know what you can do to me Lils, you're a damn talented witch."

Lily grinned. "Thanks." Then her face resumed the serious expression. "When we leave this closet you're going to turn back into the arrogant James you always have been as long as I've known you. I never wanted to get involved with you because of how you act.

"If I told you I had liked you, you'd have used it against me and dumped me a week later when you got bored of me. So I thought it was much smarter to avoid you as much as I could." Lily stared at the floor as she revealed what she was thinking. "I'm a sensitive person and I don't want my heart broken."

James stared at her incredulously. "So you… you do like me? You would say yes if I asked you out tonight?"

"No," Lily replied honestly, turning her head to the opposite side of James. "I would say no until I knew you'd change. Because if you're just going to go and bully Snape and pull pranks on Melody to find out all the secrets of Hogwarts and use me just for snogging, I would never date you. And…" Lily couldn't stop the tears from welling up in her eyes. She didn't want to tell James this… but she couldn't stop the information from pouring out.

James grabbed her chin and forced her to look into his hazel eyes. "Look Lily… you are not like any other girl here at Hogwarts. I care about you more. And tonight has proven this to me. It proved how much I really care about you. I swear I wouldn't hurt you."

Lily smiled bitterly as the first tear fell and she slapped James' hand so he would let go of her face. Her green eyes glittered coldly. "You would make promises and never keep them. I know you wouldn't be able to."

James sighed as he leaned his head against one wall and Lily leaned her forehead against the other side. _He's not saying anything… I knew I was right about him._

_**4:09 am**_

"If I tell you this will you promise not to tell a soul?" James asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

Lily turned her face away from the wall she was staring at and nodded her head lightly, curious as to what James was going to say.

"I have this… friends. And he's a werewolf," James started.

"Remus," Lily nodded.

James stared at her in shock. "How the heck did you know that?"

"I figured it out in third year," Lily told him, shrugging. "Melody and I were looking through a textbook full of lunar charts and stuff while she was studying for her Care of Magical Creatures class and looking up stuff on werewolves. We were suddenly fascinated by that stuff and kept track of the lunar patterns. One thing we noticed is that Remus was missing every full moon, usually sick or visiting a sick family member.

"Melody guessed he was a werewolf and we didn't want to ask him or anything, but we overheard Sirius and Peter mentioned something about it in a corner of the common room one night. Nobody else would've probably guessed what they were talking about," Lily reassured James. "But we were suspicious of Remus already. Later we confronted Peter about it and he looked so nervous when he was lying about it that we knew our assumptions were true."

"Ah," James muttered. "Anyways… during the first full moon last year, Sirius decided it would be 'fun' to get back at Snape for something he did over the summer to us I don't wish to relive by having Snape run into Remus in werewolf form.

"I had no idea of what Sirius was doing and he didn't tell Remus either, just Peter and he swore he'd beat Peter to a bloody pulp if he told Remus or anybody else. Peter was so frightened that he ran and found me and told me. I never told Sirius that Peter told me, but I ran out to stop Snape from going into the place where Remus was hiding in werewolf form. Snape caught a glimpse though, and Dumbledore made him keep it a secret. Snape blames me as much as he blames Sirius, Remus and Peter."

Lily looked at James weirdly. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I haven't told anybody else besides the people who were involved in the story and already knew firsthand," James explained. He raised his hand, beginning to ruffle his hand through his hair before he thought better of it.

"I want you to trust me Lily, because like I said, I honestly care about you," James shrugged, looking Lily straight in the eye.

His hazel eyes told Lily everything she ever hoped to find there. They told her he was being honest and that he really cared for her.

The redhead began smiling again. "You think that was a story?" she asked him cockily. "I'll tell you a real story. In fourth year, Mitch decided he wanted to figure out where the kitchens were. Of course, he had no clue, and so dragging me and Melody along, we went for one heck of a trip around Hogwarts. I swear, I had no clue of half the things there were in this school! Anyways…"

**_4:27 am_**

"I am so tired," Lily mumbled as she leaned against James again. She found that the boy sitting to her right was a much better pillow than the wall to her left. Her eyes were closed and James' cloak still lay over her shoulders above her own cloak.

"Well, it is almost 4:30 in the morning," James answered back, his eyes closed as well and his head leaning on top of Lily's, his arm wrapped around her waist.

"Hey Lily?"

"What James?" Lily snuggled closer to James. _He's so warm…_

"I was wondering… have I redeemed myself in your eyes?" Neither of them moved nor spoke for a minute. James was waiting apprehensively while Lily ran over possible answers in her head. Finally, the right one emerged from her lips.

"You could say something like that," Lily said quietly. The existing tension in the small closet began to dissipate.

"What would you have me do to fully redeem myself?" James asked quirkily as he lifted his head and in turn Lily lifted hers. Both sets of eyes were open and staring at one another again.

"Can you read minds James?" she questioned, smirking.

"I have many talents my dear Lily, perhaps telepathy is one of them. But should I tell you or should I tell you not?" James said with a grin. Lily punched his shoulder lightly and James feigned being mortally injured.

"So did you read my mind or not?" Lily asked him, her green eyes glittering with anticipation.

"I believe I did," James nodded his head, still grinning, his own eyes sparkling with glee. "But before I comply with your wishes m'dear, I must say that I never intend to break your heart or hurt you in any way Lily. I promise you."

With that James leaned towards Lily and cupped her face with both hands, one unraveling itself from Lily's waist, and pulled her towards him with a kiss. James had had his share of kisses, and Lily's was certainly the number one kiss on his list.

He had wanted to kiss her for many years, even when he still didn't like girls very much he was curious. Finally his curiosity was indulged and to his pleasure, the kiss was more than he had ever wished for.

Thinking along similar lines, Lily found both of her hands working themselves around James' neck, one working its way through his hair and the other feeling his bare back. _I think I always wanted this… I think I always wanted him to kiss me. And he did! James kissed me! I'm going to worship Mitch and Melody for this._

James' hands found themselves on Lily's back as she broke away and leaned her forehead against his. Both parties were smiling like they had won a million galleons.

"I think you read my mind wrong Mr. Potter, considering I never was thinking about kissing you," Lily lied, cocking her head to one side.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit," James told her.

"Who said I was being sarcastic?"

"I did."

He kissed her again, and together in the broom closet on the seventh floor of Hogwarts, Lily Evans and James Potter fell asleep in each other's arms and with smiles on their faces.

XxXxX

Aha! The kiss! Heehee… XD They kissed! –twirls- Yeah, so, again, the chapter wasn't very long but these chapters are usually around three to five pages anyways. This one is four. Again, thanks SO much for the reviews you guys. You all SO rock! So much so! There's going to be one last chapter where Lily and James are released from the broom closet and face Hogwarts and their friends… Thanks again you guys! Adios!

7-11-05


	5. An Expected Ending

_Disclaimer: Aha! This is not mine! It's ALL JO'S! –gives credit to Jo- I'm just having fun here!_

_Author's Notes: Here it is! The end! Short, but so what:)_

**Chapter Five**

Melody Bones awoke the next morning to her alarm clock blaring loudly She wanted to hit it, but didn't have the strength. Her face was buried in her pillow and then she suddenly remembered why Lily wasn't clobbering her with a pillow to wake her up.

James and Lily were still in the closet.

All the conspirators had agreed to meet in front of the closet at eight am sharp, but they would wait for her if she was late. Melody checked her clock. It was twenty minutes before eight.

The chestnut haired teenager quickly showered and dressed, grabbed her bookbag and found Sirius, Remus and Peter all on their way out of the common room.

"Oi! Looks like Bones is joining us fellas," Sirius commented as Melody tapped his shoulder.

Remus smiled at Melody. "I do hope our plan hasn't caused either of our best friends to kill the other. Because murder isn't a pretty thing. And I rather like James, and I'm pretty sure Lily would kill him before he'd kill her." Melody smirked and shook her head, not even replying.

"But Lily feels the same way towards James; his spell yesterday proved that," Peter pointed out.

They walked along the corridor to find Mitch Macmillan already standing outside the broom closet. "Ready to face whatever disturbing sight lie behind this door?" the Hufflepuff questioned the group.

"I wonder what we will find," Remus mused.

"Probably James and Lily in a very compromising position… and when I say compromising I mean-"

"Shut up Sirius," Melody growled. "Perhaps we'll just find them cuddling… nothing more," she added with a glare at Sirius who pretended to look innocent.

"I still wouldn't be surprised if Lily killed James or if they're still angry with each other as always," Mitch shrugged. "Then we'll have to do this again tonight and every night until they get it through their thick skulls that they like each other," Melody half-shouted.

Mitch looked down at his passionate girlfriend and kissed her forehead. "You. Relax. Later."

"What he means if that he wants to snog her in a dark corner later," Sirius mumbled. Melody and Mitch both shot him glares, but Peter and Remus snorted, the latter covering it up with a cough.

"Let's just open this door shall we?" Melody suggested.

"Please, let me do the honors," Remus winked at his friends as he pulled out his wand and muttered '_Alohamora_' and the door flew open. Everyone gasped, despite if they were expecting this sight or not.

James looked very pale and still, and he was covered in one cloak while Lily was balled up in a corner, shivering and looking crazed with her red hair awfully frizzy under her own cloak.

"Did you… hurt James in some sort of way?" Sirius asked rather frightened and angry.

Just then, James leaped up and tackled Sirius. "You guys are so gullible!" James exclaimed as Lily began laughing too. "We heard you shouting and you woke us up from our rather comfortable sleeping position. We wanted to surprise you."

"Ha ha very funny," Sirius grumbled. Remus, Melody and Mitch were smiling, but Peter was outright laughing. James patted Sirius on the shoulder as Lily stood up and stood beside James.

"So… do you two hate each other or are you getting along or are you dating?" Melody asked the two sleepy looking friends she had locked in a closet.

James grinned mischievously at Lily and didn't take his eyes off her as he told Melody, "Why don't I show you?" Lily's green eyes were sparkling back at James, and it seemed that last night had really revealed something for both of them, and how much they truly cared about each other, despite their differences and Lily's former dislike of him.

Melody gasped and sank back into Mitch's arms sappily as James pulled Lily into a kiss. Peter stopped laughing and stared, wide-eyed, at his best friend snogging Lily. Sirius was mocking Melody's reaction, but Remus was just smiling.

"I knew it!" Melody shrieked, delighted as she hugged Lily. "I knew you two liked each other! You better thank me someday!"

"You finally got Evans didn't you?" Sirius asked his pal. "You always said you were going to, and I always hoped you would, but I never believed you."

"Because of that, I believe you owe me five galleons?" Remus smirked at Sirius. The latter grumbled as he dug into his bag and pulled out a few gold coins and slapped them into Remus' hand. The giggling from Melody finally stopped as the group stood around the broom closet.

"So what happened in the closet?" Peter asked the two victims.

James and Lily exchanged glances before they decided on an answer. "Use your imagination Wormtail," James told his pal. Peter didn't seem very satisfied with the answer, like the rest of the group, but the two were not budging.

"I guess it'll just be one of the many mysteries of Hogwarts," Melody sighed.

"We'll meet you down at breakfast," Lily told the group, James' arm dangling over her shoulders. "I think we both need to change."

"Or snog," Sirius coughed. Melody kicked his shin.

XxXxX

It was quite a shock for the whole of Hogwarts to see James Potter and Lily Evans walk into the Great Hall together, hand in hand. Whispers spread as quickly as fire and at the head table where the teachers sat, Professor Albus Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled from behind his half-moon spectacles.

"I told you it would happen," he told his colleague, Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor house. "Lily's friend Melody Bones had quite the plan."

"You knew about students locking fellow students in broom closets and you didn't do anything about it?" McGonagall asked incredulously. "And how did you know?"

"Now what good would it have done? Mister Potter and Miss Evans would still not get along, and perhaps they would never realize how deeply they care for one another," Dumbledore explained, watching as Lily and James sat down with their friends at the Gryffindor table.

"And Minerva, I know everything that happens inside this castle. As Headmaster, it is my duty, though, it quite interests me to know what is going on so it is no trouble for myself." Dumbledore smiled at McGonagall who seemed to understand.

"They're a fine young pair," she said fondly.

Lily felt more happy than she would've ever imagined feeling being James' girlfriend and the object of his affections. She never could doubt the way he felt about her when she looked into his eyes and saw the joy in them as they spoke, argued, kissed or bickered.

_Perhaps I should thank Melody,_ Lily thought to herself as James squeezed her hand, his other holding a piece of toast he was eating.

Both of them were exhausted from the little sleep they had gotten, but they would manage. Because they had each other now. And that was enough for them.

But little did the two lovebirds notice as all around the Great Hall, dozens of galleons, sickles, and even knuts were being exchanged, because everybody had been curious as to when or how Lily and James would get together. But no matter the winner, everyone at Hogwarts had known the same thing.

Everyone knew Lily and James were going to end up as a couple.

"I say it lasts two weeks," whispered a third year Hufflepuff girl across the aisle to a third year Gryffindor boy.

"I say it lasts four," the Gryffindor whispered back.

"And I'd say it lasts until they die," Remus cut in as he walked along the aisle, watching both the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor as they drew back into their seats.

"Our little Jamsie is growing up and falling in wuv!"

"Grow up Sirius!"

XxXxX

THE END!

XxXxX

I didn't want much of a fluffy ending, so I went for more of the humor. I was too tempted to make James appear dead to his friends to pass up the opportunity. I don't think the ending was the best, but it had to be written, and I really wanted to finish it before Half Blood Prince comes out. Tomorrow! Can you believe it!

Anyways, thank you SO much everybody for the reviews. They meant the world to me and made me love writing this little piece of fan fiction up. I love you guys! You rock so much! XD

Don't expect any more for this story, it's over. But it was fun to write. Funny how random ideas come from the mention of being locked in a closet…

7-15-05


End file.
